Nanotechnology has been simultaneously heralded as the next technological evolution that will pave the way for the next societal evolution, and lambasted as merely the latest batch of snake oil peddled by the technically overzealous. Fundamentally, both sides of the argument have a number of valid points to support their position. For example, it is absolutely clear that nanomaterials possess very unique and highly desirable properties in terms of their chemical, structural and electrical capabilities. However, it is also clear that, to date, there is very little technology available for integrating nanoscale materials into the macroscale world in a reasonable commercial fashion and/or for assembling these nanomaterials into more complex systems for the more complex prospective applications, e.g., nanocomputers, nanoscale machines, etc. A variety of researchers have proposed a number of different ways to address the integration and assembly questions by waving their hands and speaking of molecular self assembly, electromagnetic assembly techniques and the like. However, there has been either little published success or little published effort in these areas.
In certain cases, uses of nanomaterials have been proposed that exploit the unique and interesting properties of these materials more as a bulk material than as individual elements requiring individual assembly. For example, Duan et al., Nature 425:274-278 (September 2003), describes a nanowire based transistor for use in large area electronic substrates, e.g., for displays, antennas, etc., that employs a bulk processed, oriented semiconductor nanowire film or layer in place of a rigid semiconductor wafer. The result is an electronic substrate that performs on par with a single crystal wafer substrate, but that is manufacturable using conventional and less expensive processes that are used in the poorer performing amorphous semiconductor processes. In accordance with this technology, the only new process requirement is the ability to provide a film of nanowires that are substantially oriented along a given axis. The technology for such orientation has already been described in detail in, e.g., International Patent Application Nos. PCT/US03/09827, PCT/US03/09991, both filed Apr. 1, 2003, and PCT/US03/30637, filed Sep. 30, 2003, as well as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/673,092, filed Sep. 25, 2003, (the full disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein, in their entirety for all purposes) and is readily scalable to manufacturing processes.
In another exemplary case, bulk processed nanocrystals have been described for use as a flexible and efficient active layer for photoelectric devices. In particular, the ability to provide a quantum confined semiconductor crystal in a hole conducting matrix (to provide type-II bandgap offset), allows the production of a photoactive layer that can be exploited either as a photovoltaic device or photoelectric detector. When disposed in an active composite, these nanomaterials are simply processed using standard film coating processes that are available in the industry. See, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/656,802, filed Sep. 4, 2003, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
In accordance with the expectation that the near term value of nanotechnology requires the use of these materials in more of a bulk or bulk-like process, certain aspects of the present invention use nanomaterials not as nanomaterials per se, but as a modification to larger materials, compositions and articles to yield fundamentally novel and valuable materials compositions and articles.